Divine Favor

"And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way, And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days." (Luke 4: 22-31)

What was it that angered these people? these people from Christ's own town and neighborhood, his own countrymen? In a nutshell, they felt "slighted"; And, most anger stems from an inner feeling and perception that we have been ignored, and slighted, and discriminated against, and treated inequitably, or unfairly, and when we do not get what we think is owed to us.

Was the Lord's behavior towards his own neighbors and fellowcitizens inferior to that which he showed to strangers and foreigners? Did Christ owe his own townsfolk greater attention? Did Christ unfairly discriminate against them?

Does Lord God show favoritism? Does he give to one what he withholds from another? Is Lord God under obligation to treat all equally?

Christ was not to be blamed however. Their charges against him were themselves, ironically, most unfair. Their anger against him, to the point of attempting his murder, showed that they deserved no notice from him, certainly no special attention.

Had they not rejected him, in the same way the prophets were rejected by their own family and near neighbors, he would have spent as much time in his own town as he did in Capernaum or in Galilee. His lack of time spent in Nazareth was due to the attitude of that town towards him.

Lord God owes no man anything. All is gift from him. So preached John the Baptist - "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven." (John 3: 27)

Lord God does not owe any leper a healing, either in Israel or Syria. If he wants to heal a leper, anywhere, Lord God is free to heal him. If he passes by other lepers, and does not heal them, it is no unfairness. Likewise Lord God did not owe any widow, in Israel or Sarepta, a deliverance from famine.

"Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" (Matthew 20: 15)

"Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" (Romans 9: 20, 21)

"For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (I Corinthians 4: 7 NIV)

"And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?" (Exodus 4: 11)

This is a "hard doctrine to swallow" for fallen and depraved minds, which refuse to own the Sovereignty of Lord God and the graciousness of his dealings with his creatures.

Sinners often feel that Lord God is unjust and unfair in his dealings with them, feeling that Lord God is "slighting" them. But, the fact is, it is they who have "slighted" Lord God, just as the hometown slighted the Lord Jesus Christ, and not vice versa. Sinners ought to be indicting themselves instead of Lord God.

Lord God is still saying to sinners - "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?" (Matthew 20: 13 NIV)

"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?" (Ezekiel 18: 25 NIV)

The rights and perogatives of Lord God, the Sovereign of sovereigns, usurp and trump the rights and perogatives of creatures, which creatures rights and perogatives are the gift of Lord God, the Potter and Maker of all men. Creator rights and authority take precedence, obviously, over any rights and authority granted graciously to the creature.

Some look at the truths announced in the passages cited and judge that such a system of things puts men in a helpless and hopeless condition, one in which they cannot, of themselves, do anything to free themselves.

Yes, in a sense this is true, being one way of looking at the system of things, but it is also true that such a system forces men to come meekly and humbly to Lord God, and to him alone, does it not?

As long as men feel that they are gods and lords, and that Lord God owes them, that Lord God ought to exist solely for their good and pleasure, they will never find eternal life.

Friend, do you come to Lord God feeling he owes you? Or, do you come as a poor beggar, realizing that all your hope is in him and in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?